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Discuss Tiling straight on timber or fix layer of ply? in the British & UK Tiling Forum area at TilersForums.com.
I liken it to drink driving, you might not crash, or get caught everytime, but one day.............
...PVA stands for polyvinyl acetate, and it is a rubbery synthetic polymer. It is commonly emulsified in water and used as glue. Many know it simply as "wood glue", or "carpenter's glue".
Cementious materials, such as many tile adhesives and grouts, or other materials which contain cement, such as concrete, are alkaline. Simplified, that means they have a high pH.
Alkali slowly attacks polyvinyl acetate, forming acetic acid, which has a low pH. Cement doesn't dry per se; it cures through hydration, which means it binds the water you mix it with chemically. This causes the pH of the substance to rise dramatically. Introducing an acid negates that process to some extent, preventing the cement or conrete from binding all the water it needs to harden properly.
It is hydrolysis which gives cement and concrete products strength, and holds them together. Without this process, it would merely be the powder you started with.
The acetic acid which is formed when cement and PVA comes into contact, either through mixing them, or "priming" with PVA, will continually free the water bound in the cement, and that will weaken the bond and/or integrity of the material. The effect is accelerated if the material is subjected to moisture, which is more or less always the case.
PVA isn't water resistant. It becomes slightly live when exposed to moisture, and this in combination with the exposure to alkali, accelerates the forming of acetic acid. PVA which is marketed as "water resistant" or "exterior grade", has additives which makes them water resistant, but they're not alkali-resistant.
It was sWe's post last year I think.
PVA not so much of a problem with acrylic addy but with cement based adhesives onto gypsum based walls, you will have chemical interactions between cement and gypsum - made worse by the PVA
Etringite crystals I seem to remember.....
I was called to a job in Lancaster - only 18 months old and the whole wall of tiles had de-bonded from the wall. Tiler's defense was "I PVA'd it properly".
Now it's gone legal.
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